This invention relates to cigarette pack cartons which resemble and function like hinge lid cigarette boxes.
Hinge lid cigarette boxes are extremely well known and very popular. Such boxes include an outer member which has a lower main portion and an upper lid portion which is hinged to the rear of the lower main portion. When the lid is closed, the front, side, and rear walls of the lid act as vertical extensions of the corresponding walls of the lower main portion. The lid can be pivoted up and to the rear to open the box and allow access to the upper ends of the cigarettes standing in the lower main portion. An innerframe is provided inside the front and sides of the lower main portion so that it projects up above the lower main portion. This innerframe reinforces the front and sides of the box, and also provides some interference with the lid when the lid is pivoted open. This interference helps to keep the lid neatly closed and prevents the box from opening accidentally.
Hinge lid cigarette boxes are so popular and perform so well that it is thought to be desirable to provide cartons for holding several cigarette packs which are constructed and operate on similar principles. One such carton is shown in commonly assigned application Ser. No. 07/594,325, filed Oct. 9, 1990. The carton shown in that application works well and has many desirable features. However, there is always room for further improvement and for the provision of other features. For example, it would be desirable to provide a carton which uses less cardboard stock and which is better suited for set up empty and later filling with cigarette packs. In particular, subsequent manual filling may be desired under some circumstances, and it would be desirable to have a carton which is better adapted for such manual filling. As another example, it would be desirable to have the visible surface of the innerframe in the finished carton be the same surface of the blank as provides the outer surface of the finished carton. This would improve the appearance of the innerframe, and would also facilitate printing on the innerframe if desired. Still another example of desirable improvements would be the inclusion of structures which could be made to project into the interior of the finished carton to take up some of the space in the carton in the event that it was to be used for fewer than the maximum number of packs or for packs of smaller than the maximum size.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to provide improved cigarette cartons which generally resemble and function like hinge lid cigarette boxes.
It is another object of this invention to provide cigarette cartons of the above-mentioned type which can be made with less cardboard stock.
It is still another object of this invention to provide cigarette cartons of the above-mentioned type which are better suited to being set up empty, followed by filling with cigarette packs either manually or by machine.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide cigarette cartons of the above-mentioned type in which the outer surface of the innerframe is the same blank surface as the outer surface of the carton.
It is still another object of the invention to provide cigarette cartons of the above-mentioned type including panels which can be made to project into the interior of the finished carton to take up space in the carton if desired.